What did you do today to prep...

[Bradbn4]

I found a gas station not selling ethanol mix for long term storage....and for use in the pick'em-up truck.

The truck does seem to get better mpg, so I will have to run a few gas tanks to see if the price difference between the two is worth the extra money.

[Knecht]

any chance that batch of reloads was left in a high temp environment before using them?
i.e. in a car for a few days

No, but the opposite way yes - they have been freezing for a month or so. But the weird part is that after I found out the ammo batch is bad, I tested the same primers that were stored in the same drawer and they all worked.

Did some forging and musket ball casting today. Now I'm about to cut some leather and start another pair of shoes.

[Applejack]

Must have been a sewing day AJ, I worked on 3 dresses myself. You probably didnt bend 1, 2.. errrrr.. 3 needles either. 

Cedar

Are you using the right size needle. You might need a larger size needle for what you are doing.

[Stwood]

More rain, sleet today. 
Impatiently waiting for the garden to dry out

[mountainmoma]

Livestock: Cleaned out chicken coop.

Communication: Picked up a used off brand power cord for the macbook ( still going, at 8 years of use now) at local shop for $10. Last years repaired one failed, my theory is that by not gluing the case shut, but using colorful electrical tape, the tape loosened and so stress relief was comprimised. Or internal electronics died from being shorted once too often. The connector on the laptop itself is very worn and the power cord was easily knocked off, and some of those times the power cord touched the wrong thing and shorted(which would make computer shut off abruptly). I have taped, with strong tape, not electrical, the power cord end to the computer connector so it doesnt get knocked off. ( I am running an experiment to see if I can get this computer to go 10 years).

Entertainment: picked up a used 5 disc dvd/cd player while I was there. I like to listen to music and my single disc player died a few weeks ago. I can run the stereo off of battery back up in power outages too, and stereo receiver has an am/fm radio built in....communications and entertainment are important preps here.

[Knecht]

Started moving to the yurt again, for the spring/summer season. Will be nice to live outdoors again, in closer touch with the nature (not like we were living in too modern in the cottage either, but yurt is different). Not sure how weather was elsewhere in the world today, but for me here in CZ it was a first real Spring day. It was warm and sunny, birds were singing, my old buddy white wagtail arrived and appeared on the roof a his favourite spot...I was worried that he might settle somewhere south this year on his way back from Italy, but he apparently loves our place as much as I do.
Checked my new fruit threes and they seem to be doing great. About time to do some gardening work.
Paid for my new flintlock, will pick it up next week.
Received ETS Glock magazine for testing. I don't trust translucent mags much, but as factory mags have gone way up in price recently, I'm looking for some cheaper alternatives, at least for range use. Plus ETS seems to be the only company that makes 30round mags in .40SW caliber.
Starting last two weeks of my rice/meat diet, for now. Will continue later, but I'm about to be at couple events that wouldn't allow me to keep it, so I'm taking a break and will get back to it in second half of May I think. It has taught me to eat less without being hungry and eat more wisely. Also taught me to eat rice in various ways and to keep flavouring stuff around if storing large amounts of rice for long term supplies.
Getting back to forging after the winter pause. Need money, so I'm making knives mainly. It's quick and pays well, plus it's something I'm quite good at. Once I get back to practice, I'm planning to work on some more challenging items.

[Stwood]

Added some items to the storeroom today. Also bought more plastic containers to organize with. Made a Augason Farms order.

[mountainmoma]

preparing for extra people : This is always one of my preps, never know if friends, neighbors or family will be impacted by emergency, either economic or weather or civil disobedience. At this point, hard to say which of the three will be first to hit. (If I'm real lucky, offspring visiting with the hypothetical future grandchildren will win out as the first "need" )This is part of why I have the year long blanket/warmth project. I am still with one fully working bathroom and 1 ripped up, a long term project of gathering materials. Last week one of my visiting offspring helped insulate the back wall of the shower space. The place I bought my used power cord had received a large tile donation that day, and I went back and picked up some, at .5/sq ft that I think will work for the shower floor/bathroom floor. Not my dream solution, but should be cute and pull other items together. It is Island Stone random mosaic sheets, all one color, I do not like busy floors, I will likely grout with a similar color, and altogether it should be similar color enough to the spanish red quarry stone tiles in the hallway outside of it. Waiting to rip up and replace the entire downstairs flooring has been a losing strategy, time to move on. https://www.islandstone.net/random-series

[Stwood]

Serviced the TroyBilt yesterday in preperation of tilling the garden.
After the oil change and fresh gas (I always run the tank dry) I fired it on the second pull (this B&S has always done that  ) and I let it run for a bit before shutting it down and rechecking the oil level.
It started idling like it had a big ol race cam in it.  I knew that it was trying to flood out so I shut it down. Gas immediately started running out of the air cleaner.
I got the tank shut off and let it drip out. Tapped on the carb bowl, turned the gas back on, and no more gas running out. Yep, the float had stuck open.
So I put a dab of acetone in with the gas and let it run for about 30, and it ran a-ok.

Its ready to go as soon as this weather straightens up. 

[bcksknr]

     Going along with our goal of spending the kid's inheritance wisely, we are waiting for the arrival of our new camper. We've done trips in our friends motor home and even though we have years of tent and car camping (as well as historical re-enactment camping behind us), we decide a little more comfort and convienience would be nice. It's a GeoPro by Rockwood, 20 ft. and hard sided. We got all the bells and whistles, including a solar package. As to survival, it would make a temporary home in a disaster. I can pull it with my Ford Ranger because it only weighs 3,000 lbs.
     I took my truck which is an '05 into my mechanic to check the condition of the frame and hitch. We decided the frame was sound, but the rust made the hitch "iffy". So I'm having a new hitch installed along with the wiring and trailer brake controller. The camper comes standard with drum brakes, but you need the remote controller in the truck. It's lightweight, but I'm having an equalizing sway control installed as well; I figure the camper might have trouble in high winds. since I mistakenly thought the truck had a tow package (bought used) I'm also getting a transmission cooler put in.
     Along with the potential use as a temporary shelter, we are looking forward to lots of travel and comfortable camping. Also this gives me an excuse to outfit it with new survival supplies and equipment. Sometimes it's more about enjoying life rather than just staying alive.     

[Carl]

  You are wise to over-engineer the tow vehicle as DRY WEIGHT is substantially less that the 'loaded weight' with solar,batteries,water,clothing,food,black and grey water ,dishes...etc.  That said , I envy the freedom and fun it represents.

[Stwood]

Got some onions shoved in the garden yesterday. Soil did not till up as fine as I wanted it too, but with the added rain around here, tater and onion planting is way late now. So even though I have bigger dirt clods than I want, I'm planting.......and more today as soon as it warms up some. 

[Knecht]

Had 3-day shift at the range, CZ factory had a show there. Got to check out some guns that haven't even hit the market yet. Including the new army rifle. Good to know its controls and disassembly in case of civil war, revolution and such.

[Carl]

  PET scan to see if chemo immobilization surgery that killed over 20% of my liver stopped the cancer in my liver. Worked in the Ham shack on 20 meters for a while and worked stations in EUROPE by path over the North Pole.

[Stwood]

4 more 25' rows of onions set. And seven 35' rows of taters. 

3 rows of the taters were new to us. Dakota Pearl. Greenhouse where we bought them at said they store about like the kennebecs we normally plant. So......we'll see.

[Carl]

4 more 25' rows of onions set. And seven 35' rows of taters. 

3 rows of the taters were new to us. Dakota Pearl. Greenhouse where we bought them at said they store about like the kennebecs we normally plant. So......we'll see.

They make good Pearly Fries?

[Stwood]

They make good Pearly Fries?

No idea'r at dis stage. 

[Carl]

  Just gave dog her favorite snack...1/2 (plastic) jar of peanut butter...she will detail the car and run a load of laundry...PLUS vacuum the carpets for this.

[Stwood]

 



Running to the pantry for peanut butter..............

[Redman]

  Just gave dog her favorite snack...1/2 (plastic) jar of peanut butter...she will detail the car and run a load of laundry...PLUS vacuum the carpets for this.

Good dog, good dog. pat pat pat 

[mountainmoma]

Sewing skills : made the 3 blocks for "thank you " block gathering at the quilt guild. There were only 9 patch squares, but I found them hard. They are the first pieced squares I have done. I went to the quilt guild meeting, where I turned in those, plus my block-of-the-month for the drawing, that block was easy as it was strips. I bought a used, beginning quilt basics book there for  quarter, and took home a new block of the month instructions. I made chocolate chip, walnut, oatmeal cookies for the snack table, they were still warm when I set them out. There was a guest lecturer, Maria Shell, there, an expert that does shows, museums, etc... with an interesting talk and slides. One of her pieces, is this one, colors unfurled (if betsy ross had my stash, she just stopped displaying and sold that one for $15k) https://www.pinterest.com/pin/423690277414528638/, but in person she brought and displayed quite a few of the grid ones

[Applejack]

Got the two smaller garden areas tilled today. Still cool, but starting to warm up a bit. Getting seeds together to see what we will plant where this year. Looking for canning jars but prices are much higher this year. Will be watching yard sales again this year.

[prep47]

     Going along with our goal of spending the kid's inheritance wisely, we are waiting for the arrival of our new camper. We've done trips in our friends motor home and even though we have years of tent and car camping (as well as historical re-enactment camping behind us), we decide a little more comfort and convienience would be nice. It's a GeoPro by Rockwood, 20 ft. and hard sided. We got all the bells and whistles, including a solar package. As to survival, it would make a temporary home in a disaster. I can pull it with my Ford Ranger because it only weighs 3,000 lbs.   

Hello, I'm new to the forum and your post stood out to me. We are looking at this exact trailer (the 19FBS version) and decided it was too large for our brand new Jeep Cherokee Latitude Plus 3.2 liter V6 4x4 with factory tow package to pull. We bought this Jeep with the intention to pull a trailer, and its capable to pull 4,500lbs but there is a limit of frontal area of 39.44 sq feet for a trailer as per the owners manual. We are worried about damaging our Jeep with a trailer so disappointingly decided not to pull anything. Are you worried about any damage to your tow vehicle while pulling the Geo Pro? Thanks!

[Stwood]

Got the two smaller garden areas tilled today. Still cool, but starting to warm up a bit. Getting seeds together to see what we will plant where this year. Looking for canning jars but prices are much higher this year. Will be watching yard sales again this year.

Depends on your area as to the scarcity/abundance of canning jars.
Our area is iffy. Most have been picked up at garage sales that are manned by older people, and some of the older, rundown flea markets.

[Redman]

Looking at pints on the innerweb today. Best price I found was at Target, still +$2.00 from last year. Maybe it's too early for the good sales.

I'm collecting stuff to can a couple dozen jars each of pork and beans and baked beans. Gonna need more pint jars this year, sure hope the prices drop some more. Yard sale stuff isn't good here on those.

[mountainmoma]

range time: I am out of practice and have my flinch back. So practice it is, even though it was also a headache day. Just half a box of 9mm in the xdm

food preps: received the amazon box of 2 cans of black bean burger mix. This is a good price for burger mix even if it wasnt long term storable. Box was packed poorly, then box was used for soccer practice, so 1 can dented up. Spent time calling Amazon, this is the 2nd time for messed up cans, they used to be able to ship and deliver cans here, not so much lately. A refund for the one can is on its way. The Peak dried whole milk was sent seperately, we will see if both of those cans survive. ...

[Stwood]

Spent time calling Amazon, this is the 2nd time for messed up cans, they used to be able to ship and deliver cans here, not so much lately.

We've gotten those football boxes before. Amazon is great in taking care of those issues. More than likely they usually tell you to keep the damaged items.

Added a few items to the storeroom yesterday from our trip to town yesterday.
Probably do the same today. Discovered we need to bone up on stocking noodles.

Hey Red I'll be on the lookout for jar deals also. I didn't ck at Menard's yesterday as we wanted to get on back home.

[Carl]

range time: I am out of practice and have my flinch back. So practice it is, even though it was also a headache day. Just half a box of 9mm in the xdm

food preps: received the amazon box of 2 cans of black bean burger mix. This is a good price for burger mix even if it wasnt long term storable. Box was packed poorly, then box was used for soccer practice, so 1 can dented up. Spent time calling Amazon, this is the 2nd time for messed up cans, they used to be able to ship and deliver cans here, not so much lately. A refund for the one can is on its way. The Peak dried whole milk was sent seperately, we will see if both of those cans survive. ...

Do you think Post Office employees may be taking retribution against Amazon?  I note that I only had one delivery man who would kick my package up my driveway and my security video,emailed to my local post office was all it took to fix the problem.

[Smurf Hunter]

Do you think Post Office employees may be taking retribution against Amazon?  I note that I only had one delivery man who would kick my package up my driveway and my security video,emailed to my local post office was all it took to fix the problem.

No.  Amazon is providing work to an otherwise dying industry.  15 years ago when a lot of traditional paper correspondence was transitioned to email, the USPS was hurting.  People still don't write paper letters, but parcels have taken their place.  At the individual carrier (person) level, they do often have heavier loads to carry, and they might resent that part of it.

[mountainmoma]

We've gotten those football boxes before. Amazon is great in taking care of those issues. More than likely they usually tell you to keep the damaged items.

Yes, I get a refund and keep the item, but I cant long term store it.

It is first off a packaging problem, they put 2 #10 cans in a box that could hold 4. They didnt realy think of how to protect the cans, they just put in those airfilled packaging things. The cans popped them, as the cans are heavy and were not packed tight enough, the cans could move around more now, and so were banging around in the box. I see this first off as a problem with Amazons warehouse packaging, then they may be tossed around in transit causing the denting, but my mail carrier is good, and he drove the package down the driveway and nicely set it at my gate ( not next to the mailbox on the street )